


A Skeleton's Grip

by junosea



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bittersweet, Eren goes to the sea, Eren's the only one left on Earth, Gen, Not including wildlife etc, Old Eren Yeager, Slight survivor guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 04:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2178804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junosea/pseuds/junosea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He held roses in one hand, the other hanging limply. It had been a few hours; best to go back for now, suppose. </p><p>"I'll come again soon."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Skeleton's Grip

**Author's Note:**

> First work submitted to AO3. Slightly edited. Still need to put stuff from fanfiction.net to here. Still lazy. Might wanna listen to sad piano music or something. Increase the sad mood and stuff. :3 Enjoy.

Did you disappear? Am I stuck here? Will I ever see you? Just once?

... Please?

___

A Skeleton's Grip ~

He held roses in one hand, the other hanging limply. It had been a few hours; best to go back for now, suppose."I'll come again soon." The old man picked up his trusty walking stick. He had spent hours sharpening it with the last of his favourite knife. Turned dull now, but all things never last. His mother gave him that piece of advice when he was a boy, still stubborn as a bull.

_"Eren." She said, her expression as depressing as the sky, "Life might not be so kind when you're older, and there may be times when death seems more positive. All things never last, so make sure to take hold of them while you can."_

He still didn't know why she said that. Mother was always slightly down for a few days after Father left for work, seems she wanted to let it out. Gave a big smile after though. "Ah-" A stumble on a rock tumbled him down, the stone-covered ground giving his shaky hands pain after heaving himself up. "Silly me," he laughed, dusting his clothes, "I should pay more attention. Petra always told me I like to bumble around!" Letting out a heave of laughter, he walked on forward with his walking stick echoing as it made contact with the ground. It'd been too long since he'd been on a nice walk. He arrived at the forest after a twenty minutes or so. His old bones weren't working out for him; the result of back-breaking labour work was showing negatively. The old man strolled forward onto the dusty path. Horse after horse had galloped down there many times, the consequence of it all meant a simple walkway for humans.

After walking a while, Eren allowed his knees to buckle beneath him. Reaching out frantically to keep up, he grabbed hold of a branch from a tree and composed himself. "Phew! That was close-" The old man stopped, realising where he walked too. The bloodstains were still there. The rain must've had a mighty battle against it, for the tree had broke from multiple storms, the branches ripped off, but the blood won and there it was. "Heh. It's been a while, guys." Rustling leaves were the only source of noise. Eren hated silence. "I'm not sure if I should've greeted you here. Just came back from the graves. It's weird, honestly. Everyone's left and I'm still 'ere; I'm just bones now, though." It was getting harder to talk to them. "Won't you come back? You're too far, and it's getting lonely, you know. It's- ... It's getting harder being alone. You're getting further away, and each time I reach out my hand you ignore me." He was on the ground now, his wrinkled face crumpling. "It's not fair that you're moving on. I'm stuck."

Eren left after a few more minutes. Even at old age, it was still too much to bear. He walked on to the sea. It wasn't as nice-looking as it had been at first. The tide rolled in, waves crashing against the sand. Didn't like walking on the sand, he didn't. The stones hurt his feet through his worn out shoes and his ears pinched from the cold. There weren't many days that the sun bothered to show. Miserable, it was. The old man had many a times thought of going far away, but he couldn't bear to leave his friends behind. "Mikasa would be sad if I left." It was one of his only excuses to stay and live the rest of his life with them. His legs went sore and he took one more step and decided to go back.

~

The old man just turned a hundred, though the flower crown he made from wilted daisies did nothing to stop his loneliness.

"Time to visit the graves. I'm sure they're wishing me happy birthday."

-

"Father, do you think I'm lucky to manage staying alive all this time all on my own?" He said, kneeling down in front of the many deceased. It took time and his walking stick broke on the way there. "Guys. Hey, guys. Do you think I've finally made it home?" No tears would escape his eyes. He felt cold. He felt like he was locked in a cave and there was no light. He expected something to squeeze at his chest and block his throat like all those years he spent staring at the sky. It wasn't there. He felt tired. He yawned and sat on the ground.

 

"I'm just going to close my eyes for a bit, guys."

 

 

Rain poured down on him. The flowers he had gripped so tightly during all that time had finally fallen.

It was time for Eren to let go.


End file.
